By Sean Rudolph
© Kremlin Cup

(October 22, 2010) They've had success sharing the same side of the court and today Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko continued a shared march toward a possible meeting in the Moscow final. Kirilenko and Azarenka reached the Kremlin Cup doubles semifinals yesterday and both scored straight-sets wins to advance to the final four in singles today.

The second-seeded Azarenka saved seven of eight break points to punish seventh-seeded Alisa Kleybanova, 6-1, 6-3, in one hour, 40 minutes.

"Throughout the match I was in control, didn’t let her attack and returned very well," said Azarenka, who will play the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Doha starting Tuesday.

Kleybanova, who has been blogging for the WTA Tour from Moscow this week, concurred.

"It was a very tough match, we fought for every point," Kleybanova said. "Victoria played brilliantly today. She already booked a seat for the season-ending championships in Doha so she didn’t feel any pressure and was just enjoying the game. I did all I could but everybody feels tired by the end of the season so that it was hard for me to play my top tennis throughout the whole match."

The 10th-ranked Belarusian will play Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez for a spot in the final. Martinez Sanchez swept Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-3, in one hour, 24 minutes.

The 28th-ranked Spaniard has beaten Azarenka in both prior meetings in Indian Wells and Marbella earlier this season. Martinez Sanchez is bidding to reach her first final since she defeated Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic in succession to win Rome in May. Azarenka is aiming for her first final since she swept Maria Sharapova to win Stanford in July.

Kirilenko crushed Kazakh qualifier Zarina Diyas, 6-1, 6-2 in 65 minutes to reach her first semifinal since New Haven in August. The 23-year-old Moscow native advanced to the semifinals for the first time in six Kremlin Cup appearances. Kirilenko will face the winner of tonight's all-Russian quarterfinal between Anna Chakvetadze and Vera Dushevina.

Azarenka and Kirilenko will face Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in today's doubles semifinals. The pair beat Dulko and Pennetta, 6-2, 6-1, en route to winning Cincinnati in August.

The win came the day after the 268th-ranked Diyas shocked former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-1, 6-2 in a 59-minute thrashing.

Tennis Channel will televise the singles semifinals starting at 5 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday. For the complete TV Schedule please click here.